Losses in earthquake article

I found this article quite interesting so I thought I'd share it. There's so much more to worry about than the earthquake itself.

Study explores losses resulting from secondary effects of earthquakes

Here's the link to the actual study referenced in the article:
Losses Associated with Secondary Effects in Earthquakes

 

Good find.....90% of the destruction caused by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was caused by fires.

1906 San Francisco earthquake - Wikipedia

 

Same thing we saw in Japan, most deaths happend after the quake! The tidal waves killed about 70% and Exposure killed about 11%!!!!!

 

While we will never know the number of deaths in the Haitian earthquake, estimates from about 50,000 to 250,000 depending on who you listen to, about 9,000 died and an estimated 1 in 14 of all the people in Haiti contracted cholera as a result of poor sanitation and loss of infrastructure due to the earthquake in spite of modern medicine and considerable aid. In a true SHTF situation and no external aid available, the losses after he actual quake effects could well be the worse danger.

 

Earth quake prediction apps are supposedly working but not taken seriously at all.
I'm not in an earthquake zone so don't keep up with it at all.

 

I live right on top of one of the small fault lines that branches off from the New Madrid line, they do give you some warning. We have little 2.0s pretty regular occasionally will get 3 or a little better. At worst they rattle the windows. From what I have read leading up to another big quake here, there should be a increase in the frequency of the small 2.0-4.0 tremors peaking with another 1800s super quake, that makes flat farmland big hills and the big river flow North instead of South.

Prepping for the big one that should be due sometime between now and 20 years from now. I only use portable type buildings like my cabin, with dirt berms on either side of it so it should in theory just slide off the foundation blocks onto the berms and can be pushed right back onto the blocks when the event is over. Assuming it is not so violent that it flips the cabin over My underground shipping container I worry more about. It could get crushed in the right circumstances figure that is about a 20% possibility. Chose the land because it sits on top of a small aquifer, a deep bed of sand under it, a thick vein of coal 1200 feet down and then the bedrock, a real good shock absorber. I build NOTHING with a foundation beyond blocks in holes for post frame buildings. If the well collapses (Which it survived the 1800s quake.) at 4 feet deep you hit the aquifer and a hole full of water, with a lot of pumping at 12 feet, you have a well that never goes dry. The Container is on the side of the property that is not on top of the aquifer. The post frame buildings have about foot of sway built into them before they will break. I keep another smaller container in the woods and only 6' of it in the ground and a mound of dirt built up over the the sides and top that stays in the 55-65 degree range, that should survive anything and acts as a secondary storage for items that need rotated frequently, a root cellar and a storm shelter. Only a 24' container but holds a decent amount of gear, food, and a couple of cots if the cabins become uninhabitable.

A winter time quake does worry me a bit due to the wood stove. On all of the cabins with a stove I built a small door behind the stove. I can have the welding gloves on, knock the pipe off, pop the door open and eject a hot stove in less than a minute if I am at my desk (I put steel casters/w locks on the stove legs to speed that ejecting it up considerably.) The Natural gas I use are surface stored 150# Cylinders (10) of them in a cage with buffers between the tanks. The gas line has 3 quick connects from the cage to the cabins and they break away and seal with 20 pounds of force. I also have the rule that the gas is shut off at the valve outside the cabin unless there is cooking going on inside. Electric I went a bit nuts with there are 3 disconnect boxes before it gets to the cabins and any other buildings. Improves the odds of being able to cut the power before it causes a electrical fire. Of Course I am also a firm believer that Mr. Murphy thinks he is my best friend and put fail safes on top of fail safes just for him.

Preparing for a quake is more in infrastructure and layout that anything else. No different than a tornado, which is why I built so much flex into the pole buildings. Have had some close calls that slapped us with 150MPH wind gust and the flex in the buildings did its job. Looking out it looked the hog barn was the leaning barn of pigs, and then the gust would let up and the barn would spring back upright, and only some roof tin needed to be replaced. Now that gives you a tingly feeling all over seeing a funnel working its way across a fence row 1500 feet South of your profit center!

 

KNOWING about Earthquakes come from past history. If it's happened before it's probably going to happen again, if it's happened every X amount of years over and over again, it's highly likely it will happen at X amount again plus or minus. The New Madrid Earthquakes rate atop some of the worst in the USA.
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2009/3071/pdf/FS09-3071.pdf
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1811-1812newmadrid/